As it was our last weekend in
Bangalore
(that's right the last...but that will be covered more in the next
blog) we all decided not to take a day off and make it a short weekend
to Hampi. For all we knew Hampi was just a couple of ruins and bolders
in a desert...We we're really wrong.
We arrived at Hampi at 6:30 in the morning and immediately we went to
the main temple in the Hampi Bazaar. The atmosphere, although not as
busy as the Rough Guide to India may suggest (we were the only people
there) was somehow special as the sounds "oommm" was repetitively played
over the loud speakers. So it was made for tourists, but they knew
their market and it was great. Shortly after entering we were then
blessed by an elephant named Laxmi! Not only did it know how many people
to bless but also the amount of money it was give (it collected the
money using its trunk). The rest of the day didn't go completely to plan
though.
We
all rented some bycycles from our hotel (well we thought it was our
hotel but I think it was a brothers friends cousins business) and went
across the river to eventually get to Anegondi. It started
perfectly...wait no it didn't. Kieran fell off his bike and still has
the scar on his chin to show it. But we managed to get going and
eventually we got to Hannuman's temple (the one where he was supposedly
born). If you have seen the pictures from Goa you may have realised a
monkey who can fly is likely to have been born on the top of a hill.
Half an hour later we got to the top but it was compltely worth it. The
360 degree view of Hampi was astounding and we just stayed up there for
over and hour, reading, watching, listening to music and talking. The
grass was suprisingly green and fertile and it was just a really amazing
sight. After this though it went chaotically bad. Tom's bike chain
broke, 5 went on didn't see, 2 went back and couldn't find them and I
searched for everyone for over an hour to be led by a man wearing no
trousers (but a near adequate substitue) to a cave
in the middle of nowhere to two French tourists.
The other side of Hampi was our saviour. This otherside is almost the
complete opposite from the temples and boulders as advertised but
instead is known as mini Goa...well I knicknamed it that after a hint
from the guide book. After the tourist season in Goa many people just
migrate to Hampi and so around 20 extremely relaxed hotel/restaurant
chill out areas have been established. Ours was known as Sesh Besh
(although unfortunately it was on the wrong side of the river so both
days we had to leave by 6pm) and after a brief altercation with the
waiter (was having the worst day) things were very relaxing. As I said
we even went back the next day when we were almost persuaded by a hypie
named Simon to give up our university education and normal life to work 2
months a year and then travel for 10. It would be great....but i'll
give it a pass.
Will xxxx